1. Field of the Disclosure
Generally, the present disclosure relates to methods of forming semiconductor devices, and, more particularly, to various methods of forming semiconductor fin support structures.
2. Description of the Related Art
The fabrication of advanced integrated circuits, such as CPUs (central processing units), storage devices, ASICs (application specific integrated circuits) and the like, requires the formation of a large number of circuit elements in a given chip area according to a specified circuit layout, wherein so-called metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistors (MOSFETs or FETs) represent one important type of circuit element that substantially determines performance of the integrated circuits. A FET is a planar device that typically includes a source region, a drain region, a channel region that is positioned between the source region and the drain region, and a gate structure positioned above the channel region. These elements are sometimes referred to as the source, drain, channel and gate, respectively. Current flow through the FET is controlled by controlling the voltage applied to the gate electrode. For example, for an NMOS device, if there is no voltage applied to the gate electrode, then there is no current flow through the NMOS device (ignoring undesirable leakage currents, which are relatively small). However, when an appropriate positive voltage is applied to the gate electrode, the channel region of the NMOS device becomes conductive, and electrical current is permitted to flow between the source region and the drain region through the conductive channel region. To improve the operating speed of FETs, and to increase the density of FETs on an integrated circuit device, device designers have greatly reduced the physical size of FETs over the years. More specifically, the channel length of FETs has been significantly decreased, which has resulted in improving the switching speed of FETs. However, decreasing the channel length of a FET also decreases the distance between the source region and the drain region. In some cases, this decrease in the separation between the source and the drain makes it difficult to efficiently inhibit the electrical potential of the source region and prevent the channel from being adversely affected by the electrical potential of the drain. This is sometimes referred to as a short channel effect, wherein the characteristic of the FET as an active switch is degraded.
In contrast to a FET, which has a planar structure, there are so-called 3D devices, such as an illustrative FinFET device, which is a three-dimensional structure. More specifically, in a FinFET, a generally vertically positioned fin-shaped active area is formed, and a gate electrode encloses both sides and an upper surface of the fin-shaped active area to form a tri-gate structure so as to form a channel region having a three-dimensional structure instead of a planar structure. In some cases, an insulating cap layer, e.g., silicon nitride, is positioned at the top of the fin and the FinFET device only has a dual-gate structure. Unlike a planar FET, in a FinFET device, a channel is formed perpendicular to a surface of the semiconducting substrate so as to reduce the physical size of the semiconductor device.
Another form of 3D semiconductor device employs so-called nanowire structures for the channel region of the device. There are several known techniques for forming such nanowire structures. As the name implies, at the completion of the fabrication process, the nanowire structures typically have a generally circular cross-sectional configuration. Nanowire devices are considered to be one option for solving the constant and continuous demand for semiconductor devices with smaller feature sizes. However, the manufacture of nanowire devices involves the performance of many complicated process operations. Specifically, the layers of material in the channel structure of nanowire devices, including the layers that become the nanowires themselves, are subject to many processing techniques, such as deposition, etching, doping and the like. Some of these processes may weaken the integrity of the channel structure or undesirably damage source and drain regions of devices. The present disclosure is directed to various methods to improve the integrity of the channel structure and prevent undesirable damage during and after such processing.